Tentstake Ministries

“Then came one of the angels with the seven bowls; and he said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is sitting by many waters. The kings of the earth went whoring with her, and the people living on earth have become drunk from the wine of her whoring.”

This is an interlude within the chronology of tribulation events. Yochanan is now being shown in more detail the ‘mother of whores’ and ‘the beast’ from Revelation 13. This ‘great whore’ who sits by many waters has been the ‘drink of wine’ for kings of the earth and the people living on the earth.

The Hebrew word for ‘whore’ is zanah and means to ‘commit adultery.’ This ‘whore’ or ‘adulteress’ is a spiritual whore. She is a harlot who has chosen to forsake the Creator of the Universe, the God of Isra’el and submit to other gods. Her harlotry is worldwide and involves every nation, tribe and tongue.

This spiritual adulteress sits on many waters. Though some may suggest that this is a reference to a place, I suggest it is a reference to spiritual nourishment. Contrary to the words of Yesuha, many people believe ‘there are many ways to God’ and seek other religions to fill what is missing in their soul. There are ‘many waters’ that draw many people to its wetness, but drinking it never fulfills.

The prophet Jeremiah warns the people of Isra’el about drinking the same dirty water. It is considered ‘evil’ to abandon the ‘fountain of living water’ and dig cisterns that actually hold no water. This is spiritual adultery.

“For my people have committed two evils: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water!” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Those who forsake the God of Isra’el and become spiritual harlots become ‘drunk on the wine of her whoring.’ The word for ‘whoring’ is zenunim and means ‘fornication’ suggesting that there was never a ‘marriage covenant’ between Elohim and these people. They are the godless, the irreverent, and the completely immoral who believe they have spiritual enlightening through their harlotries. Being spiritually drunk not only impairs judgment and vision, but also balance. The prophet Isaiah speaks about how the sin of fornication, compared to being drunk on wine, affects the earth.

“The earth staggers to and fro like a drunk, sways back and forth like a watchman’s shelter; its transgression weighs heavy upon it; it will fall and not rise again” (Isaiah 24:20).

This will be the condition of the earth; this is the pre-condition of mankind right now as I write this. Anti-Creator activities that are so abominable permeate the western culture. At this point the whole world isn’t embracing some of the detestable sexual activities, but apparently all the people of the nations will and kings fall into the drunken stupor.

“She must remove her whoring from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts. Otherwise, I will strip her naked and place her as she was the day she was born, make her like a desert, place her like a dry land and kill her with thirst. I will have no pity on her children, for they are children of whoring — their mother prostituted herself, she who conceived them behaved shamelessly; she said, ‘I will pursue my lovers, who give me my food and water, wool, flax, olive oil and wine’” (Hosea 3:2-5).

“He carried me off in the Spirit to a desert, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast filled with blasphemous names and having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and glittered with gold, precious stones and pearls. In her hand was a gold cup filled with the obscene and filthy things produced by her whoring. On her forehead was written a name with a hidden meaning, BAVEL THE GREAT, MOTHER OF WHORES AND OF THE EARTH’S OBSCENITIES. I saw the woman drunk from the blood of God’s people, that is, from the blood of the people who testify about Yeshua.”

Yochanan is taken by the Ruach haKodesh into the desert. This word is midbar and also means wilderness or uninhabited area. A desert or wilderness area gets little to no moisture, it is spiritually dry. There is no living water.

He sees a woman sitting on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns. In Revelation 12:3, the dragon that gives the ‘beast’ its power is scarlet or red. This same ‘beast’ in Revelation 13 has blasphemous names written on its heads. This ‘beast’ represents a huge demonic political force given life through Satan himself.

Scarlet symbolizes power and wealth within the ‘beast’ political system. Scarlet was considered a status symbol in during the Roman Empire. Moreover, scarlet clothing is worn by Cardinals who are religious leaders in the Roman catholic hierarchical ‘beast.’ The prophet Isaiah compares sin to the color of scarlet (Isaiah 1:18) and this ‘beast’ is the embodiment of sin.

The dictionary defines blasphemy as “the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God” and “a mere man suggesting that he is divine.” This scarlet beast is full of blasphemous names showing its contempt for Elohim by claiming to be God Himself ruling on earth. It is not just one name that is blasphemous, but many names claiming to be God – perhaps showing how the nation’s kings embraced the Lie perpetuated in the Garden of Eden.

“The Judeans replied, “We are not stoning you for any good deed, but for blasphemy — because you, who are only a man, are making yourself out to be God” (John 10:33).

The ‘woman’ riding the scarlet beast is also dressed in scarlet and purple. The word argaman is ‘red-purple’ in Hebrew. This ‘woman’ is the global religious system that rides upon the politically demonic ‘beast.’ She glitters with gold showing her wealth, topaz showing her religious spirit (Ezekiel 28:13), and pearls showing her ‘beauty’ comes from everything unclean. She is gaudy – excessively showy, ostentatiously embellished. Her pride puts her high upon the ‘beast.’

In her hand she holds a golden cup filled with filthy and obscene things – abominations – produced by her whoring. On her head is written a name: Babylon the Great, Mother of Whores, and the Earth’s Obscenities. The word sod is used for ‘mystery’ and means ‘hidden.’ It is used for a secret or mystical meaning of a Scripture. Though the meaning of her name may be mysterious, her global conquest of religions into one is not.

As the ‘mark of the beast,’ is put on the forehead or hand, this ‘whore’ wearing scarlet holds abominations in her hand and her forehead is marked by a mysterious name. It would seem that those who embrace this religious system and follow its political schemes will receive the ‘mark of this beast.’

Yochanan sees the ‘whore’ drunk on the blood of the people who testify about Yeshua. This scarlet-beast religious political system will be murderous – a system that wants anyone who makes a stand for Yeshua removed from the earth. Those who stand firm as witnesses for Yeshua will be martyred by this bejeweled woman and her false, anti-Torah, lawless religious system.

“On seeing her, I was altogether astounded.”

In the Hebrew, the words shammah gadolah, in the feminine, mean ‘great name.’ These two words can also mean ‘appalling desolation’ as well as ‘astonishing.’ The authority and power of this ‘woman’ distressed Yochanan and brought him great horror.

Then the angel said to me, “Why are you astounded? I will tell you the hidden meaning of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that was carrying her.”

The angel saw Yochanan’s distress and tells him to ‘wake up’ from his shock and horror. Now the angel will explain the sod of the ‘scarlet beast.’

“The beast you saw once was, now is not, and will come up from the Abyss; but it is on its way to destruction. The people living on earth whose names have not been written in the Book of Life since the founding of the world will be astounded to see the beast that once was, now is not, but is to appear. This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven hills on which the woman is sitting; also they are seven kings — five have fallen, one is living now and the other is yet to come; and when he does come, he must remain only a little while. The beast which once was and now is not is an eighth king; it comes from the seven and is on its way to destruction.”

A ‘beast’ is representative of kingdoms as described by the prophet Daniel. Daniel, however, only mentions four kingdoms: Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome. There must be others, especially one which was, now is not, and will return. Could they be Babel, Egypt, Assyria and one of these will return?

“Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth” (Genesis 11:4).

The first kingdom to develop after the flood was in the land of Shinar. It is with the tower of Babel that the people of the world for the first time combined a religious system (worship of themselves) with a government. It was at Babel, where everyone spoke one language, that set the pattern for all future world kingdoms – to set their thrones above yod hey vav hey. This is true of Nimrod in Babel, Pharaoh in Egypt, Sennacheri in Assyria, Nebuchadnezzer in Babylon (Daniel 4:3) and so forth. When kings refuse to submit to the Torah of Elohim, they become a law unto themselves. This is the ‘spirit of anti-messiah’ that is alive today in the world (1 John 4:3).

“Look at the land of the Kasdim [Chaldeans]! This was the people who did not exist … so that it has been made a ruin” (Isaiah 23:13).

The land of the Kasdim ancient Babel. When Yochanan was shown this revelation, Babel no longer existed though it had been ‘revived’ during the days of Nebuchadnezzer in Babylon. This is the “Mystery Babylon” in Revelation 17:9. This will be the last kingdom with a king that seeks to set his throne above Elohim.

“For the Day will not come until after the Apostasy has come and the man who separates himself from Torah has been revealed, the one destined for doom. ⁴ He will oppose himself to everything that people call a god or make an object of worship; he will put himself above them all, so that he will sit in the Temple of God and proclaim that he himself is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

“Human being, tell the prince of Tzor that Adonai Elohim says: ‘Because you are so proud and have said, “I am a god; I sit on the throne of God, surrounded by the sea”; yet you are a man, not God, even though you think that you think like God” (Ezekiel 28:2).

The people of the earth who do not have any understanding of prophecy will be astounded that this once-dead ‘beast’ kingdom comes back to life. This kingdom doesn’t come out of the ‘sea of nations,’ but out of the Abyss of demonic darkness.

The angel says that it calls for a mind of wisdom to understand the mystery. In Revelation 13:15, wisdom is needed for those who understand the number of the ‘beast,’ as it is the number of a person. It would truly be astounding to see Nimrod, the first powerful ruler on earth who hunted people’s souls to be resurrected from the Abyss after being beheaded by Esau (Book of Jasher 27).

“He was a mighty hunter before Adonai — this is why people say, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Adonai” (Genesis 10:9).

“Kush fathered Nimrod, who was the first powerful ruler on earth” (1 Chronicles 1:10).

“And Nimrod and two of his men that were with him came to the place where they were, when Esau started suddenly from his lurking place, and drew his sword, and hastened and ran to Nimrod and cut off his head” (Jasher 27:10).

According to the angel, the seven heads are seven hills. The only city that sits on seven hills is Rome. Each of these hills each have pagan gods and goddesses attached to them: Aventine Hill (dedicated to goddess Diana), Caelian Hill (merging of Roman and Greek gods), Capitoline Hill (dedicated to god Saturn/Christmas, and Jupiter), Esquiline Hill (nymphs who animate nature), Palatine Hill (Temple of Cybele, the Great Mother), Quirinal Hill (dedicated to god Quirinus), and Viminal Hill (Babylonaian Ishter/Easter).

Wisdom suggests there are two different religious systems in the world: one that has been usurping Truth for centuries comes from Rome and the pope, the other comes from Mt. Tziyon teaching the Truth of Torah and the Word of Yeshua.

“For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah, the word of Adonai from Yerushalayim” (Micah 4:2).

“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet begun to rule, but they receive power as kings for one hour, along with the beast. They have one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are called, chosen and faithful will overcome along with him.”

The ten kings or horns on the ‘beast’ will have power as leaders for one hour or a very brief time. These ten kings are the ten toes on the ‘beast’ in Daniel 7.

The city of these kings will also be destroyed in one hour, another unspecified time (Revelation 18:10, Isaiah 24). The Hebrew word is etzah is used for ‘mind’ and means ‘counsel’ or ‘advice,’ thus they give, as one, their counsel and advice to the government of the ‘beast.’

These kings will go to war against the Lamb. They will go to war against the Lamb. This is important as Yeshua will make war against the kings of the earth. They will perceive him as a Lamb still, but he will be a lion. Though first had to be like a lamb, he will not be led to the slaughter. He will return as the Lion of Y’hudah, the warrior King focused on conquering and being victorious. He will defeat all of them and those who are called, chosen and faithful will overcome with him.

The Hebrew qara for ‘called ‘ means not only ‘to call, to proclaim,’ but ‘invited.’ Those who are ‘invited’ will overcome with him. The Hebrew word for ‘chosen’ means ‘those he knew before the foundations of the world.’ These ‘loyal’ ones have the assurance of overcoming.

The overcomer will be like Ya’akov (Jacob) and have victory. When Ya’akov overcame his struggle with the angel, his name was changed to Yisra’el. Thus those who ‘wrestle with God and overcome’ are Isra’el. One Hebrew word for ‘overcome’ also means ‘shout’ and ‘roar’ like the Lion!

“The lion has roared. Who will not fear? Adonai, God, has spoken. Who will not prophesy?” (Amos 3:8).

“Here is a people rising up like a lioness; like a lion he rears himself up — he will not lie down till he eats up the prey and drinks the blood of the slain” (Numbers 23:23-25).

“They will go after Adonai, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west” (Hosea 11:10).

“For here is what Adonai says to me: “As a lion or lion cub growls at its prey and isn’t frightened away by the shouts of hordes of shepherds [teachers] called out against him — their voices do not upset him — so likewise Adonai-Tzva’ot will descend to fight on Mount Tziyon, on its hill” (Isaiah 31:4).

“Then he said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the whore is sitting, are peoples, crowds, nations and languages. As for the ten horns that you saw and the beast, they will hate the whore, bring her to ruin, leave her naked, eat her flesh and consume her with fire. For God put it in their hearts to do what will fulfill his purpose, that is, to be of one mind and give their kingdom to the beast until God’s words have accomplished their intent. And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

The ‘waters’ where the ‘whore’ or false church sits symbolizes peoples, crowds, nations, and languages. She ‘sits’ suggests that she rules spiritually over these nations and languages. She is the personification of a perverted and adulterous church system that needs Elohim’s judgment. Because it is the will of Elohim to destroy this religious system that has broken covenant with Him, He puts in in the hearts of the ‘ten kings’ to destroy her just like He hardened Pharaoh’s heart. The kings leave her naked, eat her flesh and consume her with fire. The ten kings will then hand their kingdoms over to the ‘beast.’

What is Elohim’s covenant with His people? What is the ‘sign’ of His covenant? It is the Shabbat, the seventh-day Sabbath. In the end times, the perversion of His covenant will be rife with lawlessness, unclean spirits, and the complete removal of His covenant ‘sign’ along with those who kept it.

“And keep my shabbats holy; and they will be a sign between me and you, so that you will know that I am Adonai your God” (Ezekiel 20:20).

This is a serious reminder to those who have a Laodicean heart that judgment is coming. Those who mix the holy and the profane, have rationalized mixing the pagan gods of men and their holy days with those commanded by yod hey vav hey, and have created a perverted religious system that promoted breaking covenant with Elohim will be destroyed. Being found naked is one of the judgments for the people in Laodicea and comes from being too rich and self-sufficient to see their need for the Provider.

“For you keep saying, ‘I am rich, I have gotten rich, I don’t need a thing!’ You don’t know that you are the one who is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked!” (Revelation 3:17).

To ‘eat her flesh’ symbolizes the carnality of the whoring church that is in its death throes. When a bacteria ‘eats flesh,’ the skin dies from the infection. The blood supply, that which brings forth life, is cut off and the skin tissues begin to decay. This is known as necrosis. This whoring church has become so carnal that it’s own fleshly desires destroy it.

The whoring church is consumed with fire. Judgment by fire is promised to those who are ungodly according to the apostle Peter. The whoring church will be filled with the ungodly and will be destroyed by fire.

“It is by that same Word that the present heavens and earth, having been preserved, are being kept for fire until the Day of Judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed” (2 Peter 3:7).

“You are worn out with all your consultations — so let the astrologers and stargazers, the monthly horoscope-makers, come forward now and save you from the things that will come upon you! Look, they will be like straw! The fire will consume them. They will not save even themselves from the power of the flame. It will not be coals for warming oneself, not a fire to sit beside! So much for your [wizards], with whom you have worked all your life! Each will wander off in his own direction, and nobody will save you” (Isaiah 47:13-15).

“All her carved images will be smashed to pieces, all she earned consumed by fire; and I will reduce her idols to rubble. She amassed them from a whore’s wages, and as a whore’s wages they will be spent again” (Micah 1:7).

Chapter 18 – The Fall of Babylon the Great

©2020 Tentstake Ministries Publishing, all rights reserved.  No copying or reproducing of this article without crediting the author or Tentstake Ministries Publishing.